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On September 13, 2018 the OECD released an update of its “Guidance on the Implementation of Country-by-Country Reporting (BEPS Action 13)”. The update is available in the English, French and Spanish.
Read more: The OECD releases further guidance for tax administrations and multinational Groups on...
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On September 13, 2018 the OECD issued a press release announcing that on September 11, 2018 Lithuania deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (MLI) and that on September 13, 2018 Israel deposited its instrument of ratification for the MLI.
Read more: Israel and Lithuania deposit their instruments of ratification for the MLI
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On September 12, 2018 the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) judged in Case C-69/17, Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy România SRL, formerly Gamesa Wind România SRL, versus Agenţia Naţională de Administrare Fiscală — Direcţia Generală de Soluţionare a Contestaţiilor, Agenţia Naţională de Administrare Fiscală — Direcţia Generală de Administrare a Marilor Contribuabili, (ECLI:EU:C:2018:703).
This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Council Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (OJ 2006 L 347, p. 1), as amended by Council Directive 2010/45/EU of 13 July 2010 (OJ 2010 L 189, p. 1) (‘Directive 2006/112’).
The request has been made in proceedings between Siemens Gamesa Renewable Energy România SRL, formerly Gamesa Wind România SRL (‘Gamesa’), and the Agenţia Naţională de Administrare Fiscală — Direcţia Generală de Soluţionare a Contestaţiilor (National Tax Administration Office — Directorate-General for the settlement of complaints, Romania) and the Agenţia Naţională de Administrare Fiscală — Direcţia Generală de Administrare a Marilor Contribuabili (National Tax Administration Office — Directorate-General for the Administration of Large-scale Taxpayers, Romania), concerning Gamesa’s right to deduct value added tax (VAT) paid on acquisitions made during a period in which its VAT identification number was inoperative.
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On September 5, 2018 on the website of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) the opinion of Advocate General Bobek in the Case C-552/17, Alpenchalets Resorts GmbH versus Finanzamt München Abteilung Körperschaften (ECLI:EU:C:2018:665) was published.
Alpenchalets Resorts GmbH rents houses from their owners and then lets them for holiday purposes to its customers. On arrival, the owners or their agents provide further services to the individual customers, such as cleaning of the accommodation and, in some cases, a laundry and ‘bread roll’ service.
Does this qualify as a ‘service provided by a travel agent’ for the purposes of Directive 2006/112/EC (‘the VAT Directive’)? That issue is currently pending before the Bundesfinanzhof (Federal Finance Court, Germany), which wishes to know whether the service in question can be classified as a service provided by a travel agent, and if it can, whether the reduced rate of taxation should apply on the taxable amount (the margin) regarding the accommodation component of the service provided.
The present preliminary reference invites the Court to be specific with regard to what constitutes a ‘service provided by a travel agent’, considering that a travel agent’s supply typically consists of multiple services (such as accommodation and transport). It also invites the Court to examine the interplay between two specific value added tax (VAT) regimes, one concerning the taxable amount (margin), and the other, the reduced rate of VAT.
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On September 5, 2018 on the website of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) the opinion of Advocate General Bobek in the Case C-422/17, Szef Krajowej Administracji Skarbowej versus Skarpa Travel sp. z o.o. w Krakowie (ECLI:EU:C:2018:667) was published.
Skarpa Travel sp. z o.o. w Krakowie (‘Skarpa’) is a travel agent. Skarpa receives payments on account from its customers which may cover up to 100% of the price that they are required to pay. According to the general provisions of EU rules on value added tax (VAT), when payments on account are made before services are actually supplied, VAT becomes chargeable upon such payment, and on the amount received.
At the same time, Skarpa’s services are subject to VAT rules provided for under the special scheme for travel agents. Under this scheme, Skarpa charges VAT on its margin. However, Skarpa’s final margin is still unknown when payments on account are received: the exact amounts to be paid by Skarpa to its suppliers may not yet be fixed or may be subject to change.
Skarpa and the national tax authority disagree as to the exact moment VAT for travel services becomes chargeable. Skarpa takes the view that VAT becomes chargeable when the margin becomes definitely known. The Minister Finansów (Minister for Finance, Poland) considers that VAT is already chargeable when payment on account is made.
It is in this context that the Naczelny Sąd Administracyjny (Supreme Administrative Court, Poland) asks, in essence, whether the general rule on chargeability for payments on account applies to services that fall under the special marginscheme for travel agencies. If so, that referring court wishes to know the amount on which VAT should be charged given that the final margin can be only determined after the payments on account are made.
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